A new face: New watchmaker launches in Detroit

Shaun Reinhold says his Canvas Watch Co. is focused on design aspects of watch production rather than assembly and manufacturing. The watchmaker has been incubating at the Detroit Creative Corridor Center and raising funds.

There's a new watchmaker in town.

Shaun Reinhold is preparing to launch Canvas Watch Co. LLC with a Kickstarter campaign. He hopes to raise $40,000 to finish production on 500 watches — 250 each of his initial two designs.

"This is geared toward a younger audience," said Reinhold, 25. "It looks somewhat similar to a graphic design rather than just a traditional watch face."

But don't call Canvas Watch Co. the anti-Shinola or the other Shinola. This is a company that has bootstrapped on $45,000 raised from friends, family and Reinhold's savings and is primarily focused on the design aspects of watch production rather than the assembly and manufacturing.

"Canvas Watch is much smaller than Shinola," said Matt Clayson, director of the Detroit Creative Corridor Center, where Canvas Watch has been incubating. "He's kind of serving as the connector between the consumer and the designer. So it's much more horizontally integrated than Shinola.

"People are just beginning to scratch the surface in terms of what it means to design and manufacture consumer products in Detroit. This is one of the few regions in the world where you can do all of that."

Design is where Reinhold is trying to set Canvas Watch apart from competitors. In particular, he's focused on the design of the watch faces.

His body and bands are made of stainless steel and leather, like most midpriced watches. But for the face, he hired two designers, including one from the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, to develop stylized dials that could be printed on the surface.

"The dial is actually printed onto the sapphire lens as opposed onto the surface of the dial, so it floats above the hands," Reinhold said. "It allows me to print on new designs the way you would print onto a T-shirt. Moving it to the other surface, I get depth by using layering in a different way."

The first batch of watches will be available to backers of his Kickstarter campaign, which allows people to fund an idea in exchange for rewards. The first 100 to pledge at least $245 to Canvas Watch Co. will receive one of the original Canvas watches. After that, customers will have to pledge $295 to receive a watch.

Right now, there are seven other watchmakers raising funds through Kickstarter. The challenge, however, is that if you don't meet your goal — $40,000 in Reinhold's case — you don't collect a dime of what was pledged; the money is returned to your backers.

Still, Reinhold isn't worried. He'd always envisioned building a company this way. "I always wanted to go the Kickstarter path to get product to people as quickly as possible and be able to bootstrap it on my own," said the Novi native.

The watches will be produced by Wiegand Custom Watch LLC, a Cleveland-area company known for its own brand of Lum-Tec watches sold by independent jewelers and range from $500 to $900. But eventually, Reinhold would like to bring production to the Detroit area.

Initially, Reinhold looked to China and other Asian countries for manufacturers, but he realized it would be logistically impossible to handle the supply chain. And he should know: Reinhold has a degree in supply chain management from Michigan State University and worked most recently for Palo Alto-based Tesla Motors Inc., handling the interior components of the Model S.

Shaun Reinhold, Canvas Watch Co.

"It was insane," said Reinhold. "I pretty much lived at work. If there was a problem with a supplier, I'd go tell my boss, and he'd say, 'OK, get on a plane tonight.' No expense was spared because we were so focused on timing. I would charter planes to pick up parts. I have stories of me hand-carrying parts and getting on planes with parts in the middle of the night."

He loved the life, but when the Model S launched, he realized he might have seen the pinnacle of his career.

"I knew it would be the best of the best for me, and I couldn't see it going up from there," he said.

So he decided it was time to come home to Michigan, where his then-girlfriend, now-wife was living. As part of that agreement, she gave him time to think about starting a business, which had been a goal since college.

Reinhold started tinkering at the Allen Park outpost of Menlo Park, Calif.-based TechShop Inc., a maker space that gives people access to 3-D printers and other tools for a monthly membership price of $125. At the time, he didn't know he wanted to make watches; he just wanted to make something.

"I've always tried to do little Internet-type companies," he said "Different ideas for apps — the typical mid-20s ideas that a guy has. But I wasn't a developer, so I thought, if I'm going to do my own business, it needs to be building something physical because that's where my skills are at."

He landed on watches because it was the most difficult thing he could imagine accomplishing. He also saw Shinola succeeding and was motivated by its story, but he had no desire to replicate its business model. He has no intention of building retail stores; he plans to grow slowly and be an online-only brand like Chicago-based Threadless or New York City-based Warby Parker.

In fact, it was Threadless that inspired Reinhold's unique watch faces. The company allows designers to submit graphics for limited-edition T-shirts. They can take the same shirt but print anything on it. Reinhold sees the same thing for watches eventually.

But, warns Jeffrey Stoltman, associate professor of marketing at Wayne State University, "the breakout is easier said than done. Part of it will be how unique what they are doing is and how unique their narrative is."

Tactically, he warns that Reinhold must have a stellar website from day one, no excuses, if he plans to be an Internet-only retailer.

"He's putting himself out there as a creative enterprise, so that landing page, that platform, has to be all that and a slice of cheese," Stoltman said. "If it looks staid or plain vanilla, it works against the narrative he's trying to create."

He thinks Threadless is a good example for Reinhold to mimic because the brand identifies itself, tells its story, from the moment customers land on its page. Getting that story right, defining who you are, from the first viewing is difficult but imperative because it can help you harness the megaphone of what Stoltman calls the "agents of buzz," those bloggers and social media types known for finding the cool things first.

To capture their attention, Reinhold needs both a well-designed watch and story that makes them special. He needs to be able to identity how Canvas Watch Co. is different and why it's part of the zeitgeist.

"He has to ask himself, 'Is it an interesting narrative?' " Stoltman said. "Some people try to put out a story that they believe is compelling, but nobody else feels that it's that compelling."

He should also ask if the moment is right for that particular story to be told. "Shinola is interesting because of when its story is being told," Stoltman said. "It is being told in the middle of this dark period in Detroit specifically and manufacturing generally, which makes it that much more compelling."

Shinola, for its part, is thrilled to see another watch maker in the city. The company is growing, sales are strong and it now employs more than 230, said Shinola President Jacques Panis. Plus, the recent North American International Auto Show drove more people into its flagship store in Midtown.

"With more watch manufacturing here, it's nothing but good for Shinola," Panis said. "There will be more skilled labor that is going to come to town, more training available, people that are more driven to help figure out how to make components in America. It's a really good thing, and we're really excited to hear about it."